A Louisiana cemetery apologized after the widow of a Black sheriff's deputy was denied a burial spot because it was 'whites only' graveyard

• A cemetery in Louisiana denied a burial plot to a Black man on Tuesday, saying it was "whites only."
• The cemetery changed its policy after the deputy's widow, Karla Semien, spoke publicly against it.
• Semien said her late husband's friends referred her, and was unaware Black people weren't allowed.

A cemetery in southwest Louisiana apologized after a Black man was denied a burial plot because the graveyard had a "whites only" sales policy.

The board of Oaklin Springs Cemetery in Allen Parish, Louisiana, met on Thursday night to remove a whites-only provision from its contract, the Associated Press reported, after the widow of Allen Parish Sheriff's Deputy Darrell Semien had spoken publicly about the cemetery denying her husband a burial plot because of his race.

Karla Semien had written a Facebook post on Tuesday in which she said an employee at Oaklin Springs would not let her pick a plot for her husband - who died on Sunday weeks after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer - because the cemetery only allowed white people to be buried inside.

"She even had paperwork on a clipboard showing me that only white human beings can be buried there," Semien wrote. "She stood in front of me and all my kids wow what a slap in the face."

In an interview with The Washington Post, Semien, who is white, said her husband's dying wish was to be buried near their hometown of Oberlin and close to the sheriff's office where he worked.

She said her husband's friends at the Allen Parish Sheriff's Office suggested the Oaklin Springs cemetery, but she only learned of the whites-only policy when she visited the location.

"No matter what," Semien said, "my kids are going to remember for the rest of their life that their father couldn't be buried in that cemetery because he is Black."

H. Creig Vizena, board president for Oaklin Springs Cemetery, visited Semien on Tuesday to apologize, and told The Washington Post the cemetery's overseer has been "relieved of her duties."

He told the Associated Press he did not know the graveyard, which has about 200 plots, had a whites-only policy that dated back to the 1950s.

"It's a stain that's going to be on our cemetery and our community for a long time," he said, as he urged others to read outdated contracts. "People, please get out and look at your cemetery bylaws, ordinances in your towns, rules in your churches. Get out there and clean it up."

He told The Post he offered Semien a free plot in the cemetery, but Semien declined.

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